SSRN Author: Donald BramanDonald Braman SSRN Contenthttp://www.ssrn.com/author=286206
http://www.ssrn.com/rss/en-usMon, 24 Feb 2014 02:45:20 GMTeditor@ssrn.com (Editor)Mon, 24 Feb 2014 02:45:20 GMTwebmaster@ssrn.com (WebMaster)SSRN RSS Generator 1.0REVISION: Geoengineering and Climate Change Polarization: Testing a Two-channel Model of Science CommunicationWe conducted a two-nation study (United States, n = 1500; England, n = 1500) to test a novel theory of science communication. The cultural cognition thesis posits that individuals make extensive reliance on cultural meanings in forming perceptions of risk. The logic of the cultural cognition thesis suggests the potential value of a distinctive two-channel science communication strategy that combines information content (“Channel 1”) with cultural meanings (“Channel 2”) selected to promote open-minded assessment of information across diverse communities. In the study, scientific information content on climate change was held constant while the cultural meaning of that information was experimentally manipulated. Consistent with the study hypotheses, we found that making citizens aware of the potential contribution of geoengineering as a supplement to restriction of CO2 emissions helps to offset cultural polarization over the validity of climate-change science. We also tested the ... http://www.ssrn.com/abstract=1981907
http://www.ssrn.com/1284454.htmlSun, 23 Feb 2014 15:07:04 GMTREVISION: Caught in the Crossfire: A Defense of the Cultural Theory of Gun-Risk PerceptionsIn this article, Dan Kahan and Donald Braman expand upon the cultural theory of gun-risk perception and respond to the commentaries on their previous article, More Statistics, Less Persuasion: A Cultural Theory of Gun-Risk Perceptions, 151 U. Pa. L. Rev. 1291 (2003). Their critics argue that the authors are too quick to dismiss the power of empirical information to influence individuals’ positions on gun control. But in analyzing the variety of their critics’ arguments, Kahan and Braman note http://www.ssrn.com/abstract=2103741
http://www.ssrn.com/1183855.htmlMon, 04 Mar 2013 06:12:21 GMTREVISION: Overcoming the Fear of Guns, the Fear of Gun Control, and the Fear of Cultural Politics: ConstructinThe question of how strictly to regulate firearms has convulsed the national polity for the better part of four decades, and in this article Donald Braman and Dan M. Kahan conclude that the best way to engender productive debate is to investigate deeper than the statistics and address the competing American social attitudes on guns themselves: guns symbolizing honor, human mastery over nature, and individual self-sufficiency on the one hand, and guns creating the perpetuation of illicit social h http://www.ssrn.com/abstract=2103759
http://www.ssrn.com/1183451.htmlSat, 02 Mar 2013 19:25:44 GMTREVISION: The Polarizing Impact of Science Literacy and Numeracy on Perceived Climate Change RisksSeeming public apathy over climate change is often attributed to a deficit in comprehension. The public knows too little science, it is claimed, to understand the evidence or avoid being misled. Widespread limits on technical reasoning aggravate the problem by forcing citizens to use unreliable cognitive heuristics to assess risk. An empirical study found no support for this position. Members of the public with the highest degrees of science literacy and technical reasoning capacity were not the http://www.ssrn.com/abstract=2193133
http://www.ssrn.com/1183165.htmlFri, 01 Mar 2013 07:53:14 GMT